The competition between Android and Apple has sharply divided the mobile phone users into two very loyal camps. Reminiscent of the PC wars between Microsoft and Apple, this new phase of mobile wars have led to some contentious debates over which operating system is better. Here's a breakdown of each system's strengths and weaknesses. Which side are you on?

Apple's biggest strength is in its cohesiveness. This is especially glaring in the iOS 5 where you can synch your iPhone data to your iPad or iPod through the iCloud for a seamless transfer. Apple provides a more streamlined system to Android. The iPhone 4s Siri can literally do everything for you with just a voice command. Apple is very much a closed system with Apple providing all the services for the users.

On the other hand Android can be best described as a collective of features and apps that leaves the users on their own. You have to navigate through thousands of apps and you have to decide for yourself what you want on your phone. This freedom is reflected in Android's relationship with third party developers. Android has a very open developer community while Apple is more selective about what developers can do with its platform. As for apps both Apple and Google have their fair share of apps available in their app stores. There are more than 500,000 apps available for the iOS while there are more than 250,000 Android apps.

In terms of hardware the latest iOS 5 runs on multiple devices but the iPhone 4S is where the system really shines. As for Android's Google it runs on just about every other major phone and tablet manufacturer that's not Apple. If you're looking at how many devices are out there for each system, Apple was selling around 367,000 iOS devices a day. Back in June, Andy Rubin announced that there were a half-million Android devices being activated each day.

Both the iOS and Android offer unique features for the iOS 5 that's Siri while Android's latest Ice Cream Sandwich has facial unlocking and the Android Beam but at the end of the day each mobile ecosystem still does the same thing as the other. What really drives the decision to go with Android or the iOS ultimately lies with the user. And if you really want to muddy up the waters you should even consider a third option, the Windows Phone OS.